


Shoot for the Moon

by mycatsaninja47



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: M/M, Mavin, SPAAAAAAAaAACCcCCEe, idk???? It's a work in progress obviously, space, t for cursing and probably kissing idk bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-16
Updated: 2014-02-08
Packaged: 2018-01-04 20:22:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 10,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1085303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mycatsaninja47/pseuds/mycatsaninja47
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gavin Free. Alone on an unidentified planet for 14 years since his dad's spaceship crashed when he was 11. He's been alone for so long, and though he's always dreamed of rescue, he never expected one.<br/>The Achievement. A rinky-dink spaceship that's joked to be as old as space itself. Its six "Hunters" perform an accidental rescue for one stranded man. And in particular, one engineer Michael Jones attempts to rescue Gavin from something much darker than space: himself. That sounded really lame but it's just something random I'm working on so yeah??? ? ?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Shoot

Captain David Free frantically attempted to work the controls of the flaming ship as it hurtled through space.  
“C’mon, c’mon…” he muttered in his British accent, brow creased and sweaty. His eyes were wide and unblinking as he glanced for the hundredth time at the navigation screen, trying desperately to connect to the Epicenter. “Please,” he choked, pounding his fist on the button. “Please, this is Captain David Free of the Slomo, we’re out of control and heading straight towards an unidentified planet, please, I have a child on board, please respond, please..” the man was sobbing now, knowing that they wouldn’t respond to not ready to admit it. After the attack, only him and his child Gavin were alive, and the ship had been critically damaged.  
“..Dad?” His son’s voice was heard behind him, and he turned. Eleven-year-old Gavin Free was watching with tears in his eyes at the rapidly-approaching planet. David estimated that they only had about two minutes before impact.  
“Oh, no no no, Gav, I told you to stay in your room,” his father said, trying to sound strong.  
“Dad..” he repeated, and the captain sighed.  
“Gavvy, it’s gonna be okay. Let’s go to your room.” David faked a smile and led his wary son to the bedroom.  
“Just stay in your bed- here, here’s Mr. Bear- and daddy will be here soon, okay? No matter what, don’t leave this room.” He kissed his son’s forehead and left, running back to the main deck.  
5.  
4.  
3.  
2.  
1.

A crash, accompanied with noises so loud that they would appear in Gavin’s nightmares for years to come. Fire. The cries and screams of Gavin, who attempted to hide under his covers. But after he realized that his covers were being licked with flames and torn apart, he grabbed Mr. Bear and hurried to the closet.  
He stayed in there for a long, long time.


	2. for

14 YEARS LATER

 

“Oh, tippers!” Gav exclaimed, poking his head out of his house. The rain had stopped overnight, leaving clear skies and the three suns to shine over the lush planet. The Brit shoved his makeshift sword and his phaser into his belt and grabbed his axe, heading out to get some wood for cooking. Just a normal day.  
Right after the crash, Gavin had blacked out and woken up the next day. After unburying himself and Mr. Bear from the wreckage, he realized with observation that this was a planet with plenty of oxygen, plants, and the like. And, as he would find out later, there were three suns during the day and twelve small moons at night that gave off almost as much light as in the daytime, allowing him to see clearly.  
He had searched desperately for his dad, and his hard work paid off- if you could still call the mangled body that was found his dad. After finding the corpse, he was pretty sure he was going to die. An eleven-year-old on an unidentified planet with no one to take care of him- surely he’d starve, or become dehydrated, or be killed or something.  
However, that was when he heard the water. 

 

The remains of the ship were on a hill, but Gavin hadn’t ventured down yet. Until, after crying for a good while, he heard what sounded like running water from below the green mound. “Wh-what the…” he muttered, sniffling and wiping away a salty tear with his hand. Cautiously, like a wounded baby deer checking if the hunters were gone, he made his way to the edge of the hill. “Oh my God.” The boy rubbed his eyes, making sure that this wasn’t a weird dream.  
There were fish swimming normally through an empty riverbed, as if water was there.  
“How in the..” Gavin hurriedly fumbled down the mound, only tripping once or twice. But he could care less about the small scrapes and bruises; the taste of adventure inherited from both of his parents had temporarily seized control of the eleven-year-old and he wasn’t going to stop for anything until he found out what the heck was going on with those fish.  
However, when he finally reached the riverbed, he hesitated. He was on an unknown planet. Nobody knew anything about this place. What if the water– or, lack thereof– was dangerous? What if the air that the fish were "swimming" in killed him?  
"Well, it doesn't kill the fish.." he reasoned. A moment more was spent in silent self-debate before Gavin decided to wing it. He had nothing to live for anyways.  
"Here goes..." He sucked in a breath and squeezed his eyes shut as he dipped his whole hand in the mysterious riverbed.  
His hand grew wet.  
"What?" The shocked Brit jerked his hand out of the water. He gazed at his hand, which was now damp. The weirdest feature, however, was the fact that Gavin could feel the small droplets dripping down his fingers, but he couldn't see them. The water trickled down his forearm and dampened the pushed-back sleeve of his insolated ship crew shirt. If it was getting his sleeve wet, then why couldn't he see it? This time, he dropped a small, light pink pebble into the air. It steadily drifted down and landed on the bed.  
Next, he rushed back to the remains of the ship and grabbed more items: small, thin pieces of plastic, hunks of metal, his dad'd phaser, Mr. Bear, and he even managed to salvage some semi-wearable clothes from the wreckage of his room (they could be used for towels if nothing else).  
The next ten minutes were spent experimenting. The thin plastic floated in thin air, the hunks of metal sank, but Gavin still couldn't see the river that was now proven to exist.  
"Invisible water," he breathed, awestruck. "I'm on a planet where the water is invisible! What else is all gammy here?" He hurried up the hill gleefully– but then, he was on the ground, clutching his head, writhing in pain.  
Fire.  
Screaming.  
The red glow throughout the ship cast by the flashing siren.  
"Just stay in here and Daddy will be there soon, okay?"  
The panicked expression of his father's face, one of resignation, of helplessness– the expression of a man with everything to lose that's losing it.  
Then, there were flashes of things he didn't even recognize: the screams of his own mother, bright flashes and tremors the force of a thousand earthquakes, pure unadulterated panic– and then darkness. Sweet, merciful darkness.


	3. the

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Purposefully very, very short chapter. Don't worry, the boys are introduced this chapter!! But midterms may stop it from being posted for a few days, whoops! Anyways, Merry Christmas/Kwaanza/Hanukkah/  
> anything else you celebrate!

Gavin's meltdown left him curled up and shaking on the ground, clutching his head, racking with sobs. He didn't know how long it was– it could have been seconds or minutes or hours or no time at all. But he eventually got up, stumbling before catching himself and making his way down the hill again. He knew he had to move on. He was never going back to that ship again: he couldn't.   
If I find a follow the river, I'll have food and water until I find a forest or something, he thought, picking up his things and turning around one last time.   
"Bye, Dad," Gavin whispered, salty tears streaking down his cheeks. He then turned and began his new life with a single step.  
And he'd been alone ever since.


	4. moon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, uh, scratch that whole "mid-terms may push this back a few days" thing. Turns out, I'm doing this instead of studying. Oh well! Anyways, I'd love to thank all the people for leaving me kudos and one lovely person who commented some lovely things! I love doing this and here's a pretty long chapter, since the last one was roughly the size of a preschooler's autobiography.

"Where the hell are we?" Captain Geoff Ramsey muttered. He helped Ray off of the ground and then turned to his radar.

The com crackled to life and Michael's voice came through. "That damn wormhole really sucked us far, huh?"

   "We'll never get back now," Geoff groaned, quietly so that the crew wouldn't hear him. He was the captain– he couldn't be pessimistic.

  The Achievement was a ship that was joked to be older than space itself. Its creaky inner workings and broken-down appearance may have given it the nickname "B.C" around the Epicenter, but it was actually in top-notch working condition. The crew, also known as the Hunters, was composed of five people: Captain Geoff Ramsey, Commanding Officer Jack Pattillo, Engineer Michael Jones, Ray Narvaez Jr, the pilot, and Ryan Haywood in technological command. Together, they were one of the most cooperative crews in the entire fleet, and the fact that they were like one big clusterfucked family helped with that. When they weren’t working diligently, they were dicking around on board, so there were just as many drunk zero gravity adventures as there were successful research explorations. The point was, they weren’t exactly enemies. The Achievement Hunters were the best in the business.

   Which made the fact that they were lost even worse.

 “Okay, it’s empty as dicks out there,” the captain sighed, peering out of the ship into the darkness they were intruding upon.

 “Now way,” Michael grinned, now out of the engine room with grease-stained clothes and a worn navy blue beanie atop his auburn curls. “This is uncharted territory! It’s like being the first kid to plant your fuckin’ feet in that perfectly smooth and untouched Winter Wonderbitch! This is awesome!”  
    
  As disgruntled as Geoff was, Michael’s excitement was contagious. Their situation was terrifying and dangerous, sure, but it was also eerily thrilling.

 “Wait a sec,” Ray interjected, his brow furrowing as he eyed the radar. “Something’s coming in sight.” At this point, all five crew members were at the front, listening to the pilot. “Look at this,” he continued, punching a few buttons and pointing at the screen. A large, round blip had come into view on the radar, but not through the window.

  “What the hell? The radar must be broken.” However, Michael was immediately shaking his head at Jack’s suggestion.

  “No, it has to be-”

“Guys?” Ryan interrupted the engineer to point out of the window. A minute or so ago, there had no huge, very real planet looming in front of them. But now there was.

    

      “Okay, Back to your stations, prep for landing, bring weapons just in case. Go, go, go!” Geoff exclaimed. Everyone, save for Michael, who was staring at the swirling colors of the planet (“Is that a fucking piece of Trix or something?”) immediately rushed to where they needed to be, armed, ready, and extremely curious. Soon enough, they were adjusted to the sudden gravitational pull and landing safely on the unknown planet.

  “Okay, we’re down,” Geoff saif through the intercom. “Put on your gear and get ready to explore this bitch.”

                                 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 “What the-?” Gavin muttered, popping his head out of the ground from the dirt cave he was exploring to find out what the deafening noise above him was.

   It was a huge ship.

“Oh. OH! Oh my god!” He hurriedly pulled himself up out of the ground and squabbled out of the way as the ship landed, pulling out his father’s old phaser and holding it with trembling hands. He was confused and scared; he hadn’t interacted with another human being for fourteen years. He’d made up words because of his eleven-year-old vocabulary- well, except for any book he had salvaged from the ship. What if they were here to hurt him, or take him away? He’d always dreamed of rescue, but it was much scarier in-

A sudden searing pain tore through his head. _No, not now_ , he thought, clutching his head. _Why now?_ He fell to the ground as it began

Screams.

Fire.

Red lights.

Silence.

                   ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

       “Oxygen levels are normal, we can take our helmets off,” Ryan proclaimed. The men slowly, cautiously removed their helmets, letting out a sigh of relief when none of them exploded.

 “Okay, this is pretty cool,” Jack admitted. Michael turned to him, an adventurous glint in his eye.

  “Hell yeah it is! No one has ever stepped foot on this planet other than us. We’re explorers! Christopher Columbus in 1492! Rodrigo Gandalez in 2026! Burnie Burns in 2050! That’s _us_!” However, his smile dropped when he realized that Geoff was looking at something that proved him dead wrong.

  A man on the ground, clutching his head and writhing in pain.

 


	5. Even

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I've been getting a lot of kudos, and I've gotten another lovely comment! Thanks so much for liking this story, it gives me confidence in my writing and it motivates me towards improving! I love doing this and I hope you enjoy reading it!

    “Oh my god,” Jack breathed. Michael, however, was already running over, kneeling down, and shaking him.

  “Are you okay? Hello? Dude, what’s going on?” The grease-stained man was genuinely concerned for the stranger.

 Suddenly, the writhing and yelling stopped, and green eyes were opened.

“Erm… hello,” he said, a British lilt adorning his words. He was obviously trying to hold back tears. “I can’t say I’ve ever woken up with a man on top of me.”

  Michael let out a sigh of relief. He was alive.

“Are you okay? You were kind of… writhing.” Michael avoided the man’s gaze and instead focused on his physical appearance. He was wearing obviously self-made clothing: a patched shirt made from different types of cloth and some leaves sloppily sewn together. There was a mop of unkempt, light brown hair sticking out this way and that on top of his head, with bright green eyes staring up at him. Surprisingly, he didn’t smell- he would’ve though that there would be at least a small odor. Altogether a fairly attractive man if he were to clean himself up a little bit. Not that Michael blamed him; he didn’t exactly have much to work with.

  “Oh, sorry, yeah,” the man chuckled. “That happens sometimes. Do you, uh.. do you want to get off of me now, mate?” His words snapped Michael out of his small trance and back into reality.

 “Oh, yeah, duh, sorry.” Michael got up and brushed himself off before offering a hand to the man. He took it with a weak, trembling grip and pulled himself up.

  “Am I, like… interrupting something special here, or…?” Ray was suddenly beside them, gazing at the two, who only then realized that their hands were still touching. They quickly took a step from away from each other and Ray held out his hand.

 “Ray Narvaez, Jr of the Achievement,” he smiled.

“Gavin Free, former Baby-on-Board of the Slomo,”  Gavin said, shaking his hand. Immediately, Ray’s easygoing expression changed to one of amusement and disbelief.

 “The Slomo? You’re kidding,” he scoffed.

“What? No. My father was David Free of the Slomo, ship number 4523 with sixty-two crew members on board.”

 “Oh my God.” Ray and Michael exchanged shocked, excited looks.

“Michael,” Ray stated, “I think we just accidentally solved one of the biggest mysteries in the history of space exploration.”

                                                                           ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  After Gavin had met everyone on this mysterious ship and had been assured that he wasn’t to be harmed, he reluctantly agreed to board their ship , if only for a small amount of time.

 “That was amazing,” the Brit said after his first proper shower in fourteen years (not counting baths in the Invisible Creek or the Floating Lake). “Now, what’s this whole ‘huge mystery’ thing about?” He asked between huge mouthful of food (no good, tasteful food for fourteen years, either). The crew exchanged looks before Ryan started to speak.      

   "About fifteen years ago, there was a ship– the Slomo– that was attacked. Backup attempted to arrive in time to help, but the ship had completely disappeared by the time they got there. No sign of a black hole, and the ship's tracking device was shot down, so coordinates and com systems were unreachable. It had literally vanished into thin air. The investigations lasted six months before they put it in the files as open and unsolved."

  A silence followed, hanging in the air like thick fog as Gavin took all of it in. He look as if he were on the verge of tears, and when he eventually spoke, they realized he wasn't sad– he was angry.

  "There were sixty-two crew members on that ship," he muttered, clenching his trembling fists. "Sicty-two human lives that they just... stopped looking for. Those men and woman had lives, and families. I knew those people, they were like family to me. And the police just.. gave up. Sixty-one lives, just.. _gone_.. and one stranded. How is that fair?" More silence.   

   "Well, the police assumed that after the attack, there were no survivors-"

  "They assumed? They _assumed?_ The police let almost one hundred lives go to waste because the just assumed? They gave up one of the best ships and crews in the fleet because they didn't bother to investigate further? My father didn't die in the attack, he died crashing into a planet while trying to connect to the Epicenter. He died, and I was left alone on a damn planet for fourteen years! Six months of investigation out of fourteen years, and the only 'rescue' I've gotten was an accident." The disgusted tone in the man's voice struck the men like whips.

 "Hey.." Michael said softly, forcing Gavin's hurt gaze to meet with his concerned one. "The Epicenter is fucking unreliable, I know. It fucks up all the time and it let's you down even more. But the com systems were out and the EC was trying as hard as it could at the time to save the ship. There was no way your ship could've been saved. Trust me, I'd be pissed off, too– hell, I'd be livid if I were you, but you've been alone with no one to talk to for a very long time, and you're just letting all of your emotions spill out at once now that you're around others. So try not to do or say anything too drastic, okay? I have no idea what it must be like to be in your shoes, but you shouldn’t let your emotions take control of you like that. It’s really not healthy. So, let’s find you a room in here and let you sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning, I promise.” His speech left the Hunters gaping, but it had calmed Gavin down tremendously.

  “You’re right, I- I’m sorry. I’ll go get my stuff and you can.. yeah,” he stood up and quietly slunk out of the ship.

 “Michael, how the hell did you..?” Ryan asked. Michael simply shrugged.

 “I had little brothers and sisters. And I was the first live face he had seen in fourteen years, so I guess he sort of immediately trusted me or something. I had no idea it would work, to be honest.”

 “Well, either way, he’s bunking near you in case he has another… whatever we saw him do, or if he gets too angry, okay?”  Though it was phrased like a question, the engineer knew that Geoff was giving him orders. So he nodded and went over to Gavin as he entered the ship, what little belongings he had in hand.

 “Right this way.”

 


	6. if

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if I should warn people about this or not: in this chapter, I do describe a panic attack happening in detail, and I'm not sure if that would trigger anything. I've done research and I actually have had multiple panic attacks before, so I'm pretty sure that it's an accurate depiction. This is actually a pretty long chapter, and it's pretty diggity darn fluffy so you know. Thanks so much for the kudos and comments! They're all lovely!

  Michael was right-- the next morning, Gavin was his usual, childish self. There was just one problem with that: since the rest of the crew was busy working and trying to figure out how to get back to the EC, Gavin had no idea what to do. Every time he tried to talk to someone, the response was always the same: “Michael’s down in the engine room, go hang out with him.” So he did.

   “Hey, Michael?” Gavin asked timidly, climbing down the old, rickety ladder to the engine room below. Michael glanced behind him and sighed.

 “Hey, Gav. Uh, listen, I’m trying to work, so if you could go hang out with Ray or something, that’d be great.” The Brit’s expression grew more downtrodden with every word.

  "Oh. Everyone else told me to go to the engine room and hang out with you..." His sad tone suddenly turned into a whiny one.  "I'll be quiet, I promise! You won't even know I'm here."

  Michael rolled his eyes and sighed again, turning back to his work of inspecting a jumbled mess of wires.

 "Fine. Just... don't touch anything."

 A wide grin spread across the face of the newcomer. "That’s top! I'll just-"

  "Top? Top of what? What the hell does that mean?" The engineer asked. Gavin shrugged.

 "It means top! Like, that's top! It means great, but… top.” He didn’t attempt to explain his lack of adult vocabulary, but Michael probably would’ve had the same reaction-- getting unnecessarily angry.

 “Top. That’s so fucking stupid, Jesus Christ. What else do you have to say about it? If something’s bad, is it ‘bottom’?” He did a terrible impression of a British accent. “Oi, my name’s Gavin, and that’s toppy tippers!”

  Gavin really was quiet after that.

 

 “Oh, sorry about that, dude. Michael has some anger issues. Which means he sort of gets pissed off at anything that moves or makes noise. He doesn’t even necessarily have to be angry beforehand to yell at things-- there’s a lot of pent-up emotions in there because of his dad’s death two months ago, so we just go with it. You’ll get used to it after a little bit.” Geoff’s explanation hours later in the kitchen left Gavin relieved. Michael didn’t hate him!

  “Thanks, Geoff,” he sighed, “I was really worried that there was something wrong with me. I thought I was doing something wrong..” He grew quiet, and Geoff turned away from his cooking.

 “Hey, buddy,” he comforted the newcomer, “there’s nothing wrong with you, and you’re not doing anything wrong. Michael means well, but he’s a huge pain in the ass sometimes.”

 “He’s not a pain in the ass.”

“Sure, buddy.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 The next day, Gavin decided to risk the engine room again, but this time stay well away from Michael and instead explore the fairly large room. The man used this time away from everything and everyone  to think. He was finally off of that planet. That damned planet that had killed his father and kept him alone. But it was also the planet that he had grown up on, learned how to survive on. In a way, that planet was his home.  

 Did he really want to leave that?

His thoughts were brought to an abrupt end by a huge shudder in the ship. He thought he heard Michael yell something like “It’s okay, just Ray dicking around”, but he couldn’t tell. His eyes were wide and he was frozen to the spot.   _Oh no._ His thoughts immediately were pulled to memories of the crash, how it started with large shudders of the ship’s frame and then-

  _No, don’t think about the crash_ , he tried to control his breathing and heart rate. _It’ll just make everything worse, don’t think about the crash, don't..._  the familiar pain in his head sent him to his knees, and then to the ground. He was trembling from the cold, but sweating from the heat, his breathing was out of control-- but there were no memories, no flashing lights or screaming. This was different.

 He called for help once, but then his voice died out and all he could manage was a croak and a whimper. He closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing and send his pulse down, but it was no use-- the small lurch in the ship had sent him into a panic that he couldn’t control. There wasn’t enough air, he was going to suffocate..

_Help_ , he thought, breathing in and out of his mouth quickly in an attempt to fill his lungs, _I’m dying, or going crazy, or both, oh my God, help me, help!_

 His vision grew blurry, which only made things worse. _I’m going blind. I’m going to suffocate, and the ship is going to blow up, and I’m going blind!_

 In the distance, he thought he could hear a voice shouting his name, and in his hazy vision he thought he could see a familiar face over him, but he couldn’t be sure. He was dying, or going crazy, or both…

 “Gavin!” A familiar voice shouted his name again, and the Brit’s breathing slowed.

“I…” he choked out, and only then did he realize he was crying. “I’m going crazy, aren’t I? There’s something wrong with me.. isn’t there?”

 “No, no, there’s nothing wrong with you, buddy, you’re just panicking, the movement of the ship must have triggered something. You’re going to be okay, alright?” Gavin felt warm arms wrap around him, and he began to calm- another human was here to help, another living thing was good, he wasn’t alone..

 “Gavin, Gavin, it’ll be okay, you’ll be fine, I promise, I’m gonna help you, okay?”

“O..Okay..” he buried his head into Michael’s neck and sobbed loudly. He missed his dad, he missed his ship, he missed his planet. But he didn’t want to leave Michael, or the comfort he brought him. His breathing was returning to normal, and his pulse was going down-- he was going to be okay, at least for now. As long as Michael was there, he’d be okay.

 “Thanks, Michael,” he whispered, his eyes squeezed shut as he breathed in his scent of grease, oil, and shampoo.

“Don’t mention it.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

  The two boys decided to keep Gavin’s panic attack a secret from the others, at least for now. Gavin didn’t want to cause a scene, and Michael didn’t want to embarrass the Brit. He really did want to help him; the way he looked when Michael found him on the ground of the engine room-- helpless, pained, and absolutely terrified-- reminded Michael of what he used to be like when he was a teenager and everything had gone to shit. Plus, since his dad’s death two months ago, he needed to find someone that he could help. He loved to help others, he had loved it ever since he was a teenager: he believed that if he could make others happy, their happiness would distract him from his own sadness. It took his mind off of things, made him focus on others’ fixable problems rather than his permanent ones. It probably wasn’t healthy, but it helped, and that was all that mattered to him.

  The point was that Michael needed Gavin at the moment almost as much as Gavin needed him.

 Michael’s train of thought was interrupted as a voice startled him.

“Psst,” it whispered. Michael sat up in his bed and looked for the source of the voice, but it was soon given away as Gavin poked his head through the door. “Micool.”

 The man rolled his eyes. “What, Gavin?” He asked. “What could you possibly want at..” he peered at the clock beside his bed, “2:15 AM?” The large-nosed man grinned.

“I want to go outside and show you around.”

“No.”

“What? Why?”

“It’s 2:15 in the fucking morning and I’m trying to sleep.”

“You don’t look very tired to me.”

“That’s because I was scared half to death by some creepy-ass moron whispering through my door at the crack of dawn!”

“Dawn doesn’t come for like, three more hours on this planet.”

 “Shut the hell up,” he said, but he was smiling. “Fine, I’ll go fucking exploring or whatever, but it better not end in me having to throw some ring into a goddamned volcano or some shit.” He ignored Gavin’s confused expression and got out of bed.  

 “Goddamn, it’s bright out here,” Michael commented, squinting in the sudden light.

“Well, yeah, there are twelve moons, what do you expect?”

 “Whatever.”

 Gavin showed Michael everything that there was to offer on his little planet: the Invisible River, the Floating Lake, the Forever Trees, the Caves. And by the time they were done, the moons were going down.

 “Ooh, look, the sunrise. You’ve gotta see this.” He grabbed Michael’s wrist and pulled them both down onto the ground. They lay there silently, side-by-side, watching the sky.

  “Michael,” Gavin said quietly, and the man turned his head to face the other.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks. For earlier today. I really needed that.” Michael waved it off.

“Hey, don’t worry about it, buddy. I’m always here for you if you need me.”

 “It’s just… for a long time, I was so alone, and I owe you so much for being there. I’m not sure what I’m going to do now that I’m around others, but if you’re here.. I’m sure I’ll figure it out.” He smiled up at the sky, and Michael snuck a glance at the man and smiled, scooting s little bit closer and closing his eyes.

 “Don’t fall asleep now, you pleb, they’ll wonder where we are,” Gavin yawned, closing his eyes as well.

 They were both asleep before Michael could ask what the hell a pleb was.

 


	7. you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Sorry this took so long, stupid sad family stuff is going on and I'm trying to make as much time for writing this as I can~ Sorry, this chapter's probably crap and it's really fluffy, but at least shit happens in it! Plots develop, gay people do gay stuff, you know, a typical day. Anyways, sorry for ranting, enjoy your reading!

The two boys, previously sound asleep, were suddenly shaken awake by Geoff, who was obviously worked up about something.

 “Hey, lovebirds, wake the hell up!” He exclaimed as the two men sat up groggily, trying to remember why they were on the ground outside of the ship.

 “Wha.. what?” Gavin asked. Michael, who was a little more conscious, noticed Geoff’s excitement and furrowed his brow.

 “What the hell are you so excited about?”  He mumbled, taking his captain’s hand and pushing himself up.

 “We were able to patch through to the ECN, we’re currently downloading the latest newscast!” Suddenly, Michael was fully awake, his eyes widening.

“Holy shit, that’s great! Gav, get up!” He grabbed both of the Brit’s hands and pulled him up, and after making sure Gav wouldn’t fall back down onto the grass, he rushed into the ship.

 “Do we have the news? Is there a search party going? Who won this week’s episode of Among the Stars?” The questions were tumbling out of the man’s mouth, and it took a while to realize that Ray, Jack, and Ryan weren’t nearly as enthusiastic as he was. In fact, they had shocked expressions on their faces as they looked at Ryan’s MiniBit (a tablet with service across the entire universe).

 “What? What’s wrong? Did Cece get kicked off of Among the Stars because if she did I swear to God-” he walked up to the crowd of people and was met with a large headline in bold.

 

**WANTED SHIP ACHIEVEMENT HOUSING FUGITIVE KILLER DISAPPEARS**

 

 “What?!” He exclaimed, grabbing the tablet from Ray’s hand and watching the video of a woman reporting from her desk.

  ** _“The Achievement, known for its successful research explorations and hardworking crew, went missing a few days ago. The ship was last seen in the Grif nebulae and disappeared, much like the ship Slomo did fourteen years before. This ship was housing fugitive Michael Jones, responsible for the Bluelake Elementary shooting of last week. The Epicenter was quietly searching for him before the ship vanished, but now we encourage all travelers and Earthgoers to be on the lookout for this extremely dangerous man. There was word from an inside source that Jones is planning to kill again, so anyone who gives any information will receive a cash reward. Please call the number on the screen or teleport to the nearest Epicenter station if you receive any information. More information soon. Now to you, Chet.”_**

 

    Michael was silent for a moment, shellshocked.

“I.. what?” He said quietly. “Me?”

Ray got out of his chair and walked over to his friend in an attempt to comfort him, but Michael turned away.

 “Why would I… I didn’t..” he was confused and angry and sad as he stared wide-eyed at the MiniBit. “I couldn’t kill a bunch of kids,” he whispered finally. He turned around and noticed that Gavin and Geoff had been there long enough to understand what was going on, and they didn’t look happy about it either. In fact, Gavin looked terrified.

 “You’re a… you killed..?” He trailed off, looking at Michael with a concerned expression on his face. Michael nodded hurriedly, his eyes still wide.

 “No. Nonono, Gav, I didn’t, I swear! Someone just said I did.. who would frame me like that? I would never..” It was too much for him. He handed Ray the tablet and ran into the engine room, not looking back. The remainders of the crew and Gavin exchanged looks.

 “We should leave him alone,” Ryan suggested, but Gavin was already running after him.

“Gav, you shouldn’t--” He was already heading down the ladder.

 

 “Michael?” Gavin called cautiously, his feet hitting the ground with a thunk as he jumped down and avoided the last two rungs of the ladder. He searched desperately but quietly around the vast room, his concern almost tangible as he searched for his friend. He didn’t want Michael sad, he hated even the thought of Michael being sad.. he couldn’t really tell, but he was pretty sure that being around Michael was what it was like to have a friend, back when he was a child and playing Secret Agent or Kill the Kronon (back before Kronons were accepted as part of society). He wanted to always be around Michael, Michael made him feel safe and happy.. but the rest of the crew didn’t make him feel that way, and surely he thought of them as his friends. If that was true, then what did that make Michael to him?

 Suddenly, he heard what sounded like the clanking of chains and a crash. Gavin rushed towards the sound and found exactly what he was looking for-- just not in the condition he was hoping for. Michael was on the ground, having stumbled down and not bothered to get up. He could see streaks on his face where tears had made trails down his dusty cheeks, but he was no longer crying. Gavin rushed over and attempted to help him up, but he was pushed away.

“Get the hell away from me,” the auburn-haired man growled. The Brit, however, was unfazed by the warning and instead went to help him up again. This time he was pushed down himself.

“I said, get the fuck away. If I wanted to get up, I would have.” Michael got up to a kneel and then stumbled back down, this time curling up into a ball and shaking, his angry facade falling away. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he mumbled, as if no one was there. “I didn’t do anything, why did they say I did something? I’m just an engineer on a ship that wanted to build shit, I didn’t want this..” He kept on mumbling incoherently, and Gavin got up and dusted himself off before moving towards his friend.

“Micool,” he said softly, shaking the man. “Micool, it’s going to be okay. We’ll figure out how to get back, and then we’ll set things straight--” he was interrupted by a famous Michael Jones explosion of anger.

 “Well, what if I don’t want to go back?” He yelled, his voice shaky but defiant. “There’s nothing there for me. I have a jail cell waiting for me and a gravestone instead of a dad. Who wants that? Nobody. Nobody wants to go ‘home’ and find a gravestone with wilted flowers and stay in a damp cell for the rest of their life.” This outburst was followed by silence, but eventually Gavin quietly responded.

“I’d love to have a gravestone for my dad.”

“What?”

The Brit took a deep breath and avoided the gaze of the other man. “When he died, I was eleven. He didn’t even get a gravestone, or even a funeral. His cemetery was a pile of metal scraps.  I literally have _nothing_ to go home to. I was an onlh child. My parents were on there. My family was on there. We lived there. I’d have nothing. You have a family, and friends, and a warm bed. And a damp cell.. well, it’s better than staying on a planet with nobody else.” At this, Michael perked up, an expression of hysteria on his face.

“That’s it!” He exclaimed. “Gav, you and I ; we should live here. I have clothes you could probably fit into. And they," he cmotioned upwards to the rest of the crew, "could too, if they wanted! If not, they could just sneak rations to us every once in a while. It’s perfect! We could--”

“Michael.” Without thinking, Gavin had taken the other man’s hands in his own in an attempt to stop him from talking.

 “What?” He smiled. “That’s a great plan! We’d be--”

“Michael, no.” Michael’s smile faded to an expression of confusion, while Gavin’s was grave. “I do not want to stay here. And neither do you. We need to get home and sort everything out so that you can walk free and I can at least try to make a life. You’re just talking crazy right now because you have no idea what to do, and neither do I, but we can figure this out together.” Silence followed, and Michael’s face was contorted with pain as hepretty much fell into the open arms of Gavin.

“Oh, God, you’re right,” he sighed, “I need to sort things out, it’s just-- I would never kill _anyone_ , I just…” he trailed off, neither of them breaking the hug. They stayed there for a while, until eventually they fell down, not particularly tired but not knowing what else to do with their time, Michael’s head on Gavin’s chest as he lay on top of him.

  _This is really gay_ , Michael thought as he drifted off to sleep. But he honestly didn’t care: Gavin smelled nice, and his shirt was really comfortable, and the rise and fall of his chest was soothing. He would eventually sort everything out, he was sure of it, as long as Gavin was there.

  _Wow, that was_ _really_ _gay._ But, again, at least for the time being, he honestly didn’t care.

 


	8. miss,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I apologize if these chapters suck, the majority of them were/are written in a haze at 3:00AM. This explains why these chapters are more spread out: school's back and that's dumb. Anyways, I've decided to keep the identity of the guy (you'll know who when you read it) a secret for now, please let me know if you like it or if you hate it! Hope you enjoy~!

They awoke from their nap in the dead of night; or at least, Gavin did. He awoke in a dazed, groggy state and stood up to stretch his legs. The whole nap thing was really unexpected, but it happened, and now he regretted it due to the fact that he probably wouldn’t be tired all night.

 “Well, might as well go exploring,” he muttered to himself under his breath. He took a moment to look down at Michael and take a mental photograph of how he looked when he was sleeping- only to find that he wasn’t there. Gavin shrugged. I guess he went up to bed.

As the man began to venture through the bowels of the vessel, he noted its size: this was a pretty big ship for only 5 crew members. He simply dismissed it, however, assuming that the _Achievement_   was Geoff’s baby or something.

 He used this time strolling through the darkness to think about everything that had happened. Well, try to think about everything that had happened. Every time he thought of anything, it would immediately be blocked by thoughts of Michael. So he decided to focus on him instead.

 What did he mean to him? He was obviously his best friend, but when he was younger, he didn’t breathe in and savor the scent of his best friends every time he saw them, or fall asleep holding their hands, or think about them all the time.. he had never experienced one firsthand, but was this what a crush felt like? He always saw the little boys and girls hold hands on the swings together in preschool when he lived on Earth. The boys would always show off their “girlfriends” by teasing them and chasing them around the playground. Michael did that, even if it was a little more obscene and involved more teasing than chasing him around the engine room.. did that mean that Michael liked him?

 Gav shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind of the matter, but it kept coming back to him. This problem was so vivid, so real.. it was almost like he could hear someone talking about it aloud.

 Oh wait.

The British man’s eyes widened as he rushed to hide behind a wall as the sound of heavy footsteps grew closer and the voice of a man grew louder.

 “Yeah, he saw it. He ran off like a child,” the voice laughed before continuing, obviously having a conversation with somebody. “The British freak ran after him. Yeah, he fell so hard for Jones, I could hear the splat as he hit the ground and completely missed the target. Yeah..” the man fell silent as he listened. “Don’t worry, I have the news secure, they’ll never find out it was you as long as I get my share. And did you hear? Cece got kicked off this week..” his voice and the footfalls faded, leaving Gavin in complete shock. Eventually, however, he let out a sigh of relief and walked back into the hallway.

Only to find the man standing right in front of him, a menacing scowl on his face.

                       

                                     ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 Gavin did fall asleep later that night, but it wasn’t a very pleasant experience.

  _Flashes, screams, black_. Gavin tossed and turned in his bed, his brow creased. _The face of the man he thought he knew, the gun pointing to his face as he was slammed against the wall._

_“If you tell anyone about this, I’ll tear you to pieces.” He growled, and Gavin nodded as he gasped for air. When he was finally released, he didn’t waste any time running to his room and curling up into a ball. But the piercing eyes stayed with him, they were there every time his eyelids closed, he couldn’t get away from them.._

 

The next morning at breakfast, Gavin slid in at the end of the table rather than between Geoff and Michael like he had been doing; sitting next to anyone was an uncomfortable experience; now that he knew of the one, how could he trust any of them?

  “So, I think I found a way to reroute the power we used to get the news to get signal to the EC, but it’s going to take a lot of trial and error,” Ryan said between bites of food. Gavin flinched at every word.

 “That’s awesome! Hopefully they don’t arrest us immediately, we should be able to plead innocent.” Gavin jumped when Jack started to speak.

“Of course they’ll let us explain our side of the story. Michael’s innocent, he couldn’t have killed a bunch of kids.” The Brit’s terrified gaze focused on Geoff as he gave his two cents to the conversation.

 “I dunno, I mean, he looks pretty damn sketchy to me.. you sure you’re not a sleeper agent, Michael?” Ray joked, but Gavin’s stomach tied itself into knots as he spoke.

 “Oh ha ha,” Michael rolled his eyes and took a bite of space-bagel, “Very funny, guys.”

Gavin was on edge for this entire conversation, and the fact that no one paid any attention to it worried him even further. What if they were all in on it? What if-

 “Hey, Gav, you okay?” Geoff asked, and Gav’s head snapped towards Geoff.

“Me? Yeah, of course, why wouldn’t I be? I’m happy as can be. Nothing wrong here, nope!” He faked a smile and went back to looking at his feet with a very not-happy-as-can-be expression on his face.

 “Uh, Okay… anyways,” the crew continued their conversation, and the newcomer just seemed to get more paranoid with every word out of every one of their mouths.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 “Hey, Gavin, you looked pretty bad back at breakfast, are you feeling okay?” Michael’s question echoed through the dank room, and Gavin’s stomach fluttered as he heard the concerned tone in his voice.

 “Yeah, of course, I’m just.. worried about you being okay once we get to the Epicenter.” Though what he said was completely true, Gavin still felt bad about telling him the wrong reason.

“Dude, don’t get so worried about me, I’m sure I’ll be fine. What you need to worry about is your future. What the hell are you going to do once you get back? I mean, you told me yourself you have nothing.” There was silence for a moment as Michael worked and Gavin pondered.

 “I’m.. not sure. I mean, I guess I’ll find something.. there’s got to be some sort of research expert willing to take me in for a little while and ask me about the Slomo and whatnot. I’ll find somewhere. But you..” Gav gulped and suddenly fell silent as he realized a crucial fact: he knew who framed Michael. All he needed was to get evidence and his best friend could walk free. But his life was threatened… which was more important?

 It honestly scared him with he found out he was having trouble deciding.

“Gav? You okay?” The sound of footsteps started towards him, reminding him of the night before and terrifying the hell out of him.

“No, no, I’m fine," he replied hurriedly, "just thinking about what to do when we get out of here. No reason to come over or anything!” The nervous laugh that Gavin emitted afterwards wasn’t the most convincing, but it did the trick and the footsteps stopped. But then they began again, and sure enough Michael was beside him, a genuinely concerned expression painted across his face.

  “Gavin, seriously.. what’s going on?” The Brit’s eyes were wide, trying to imagine his lips being sewn shut so that he could never open them again. He knew that if he stayed around the man that made him smile, it would be no time before the truth came out and he was dead.

 But would that be the worst thing that could happen?

“I’m sorry, I’m just.. tired. Yeah, I’m tired as hell, I’m, uh, I'm off to take a kip. See you!” He hurried off before Michael had the chance to respond, thoroughly confused with his thoughts and his feelings.

However, his inner conflict was solved as soon as he reached his room and found a note on his bed.

 

****  
_If you tell anyone, Jones dies too._   
  



	9. you'll

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This is a very, very short chapter and I apologize for that. I'm planning to write four more chapters after this, and I have to space events out so that I still have things to write about. I hope it's good, I'm kind of really distracted/excited by the fact that Sherlock comes on in 30 minutes. Anyways, constructive criticism is welcome, and as always, hope you enjoy~!

  Michael considered chasing after Gavin when he left the engine room in a hurry, but decided against it. He needed some time to himself without that fucker around. That helpful, big-nosed, gorgeous fucker, the one that smelled nice and had soft hands and a sturdy chest and goofy smile and dumbass made-up words…

   The man shook his head to clear the thought out of his mind and willed his heart to slow down. He had no time for feelings right now; he had to figure out what the hell to do in order to clear his name. He couldn’t just show up to EC and plead innocent, they’d never believe him. He did have a strong alibi, however, and friends to back him up on it- but he had to find out who the hell framed him before he did anything. He tinkered with some wires and attempted to narrow it down. Why _him?_ Why would someone frame him instead of any other old person? There was a reward, so it was obviously for the money, but why not just frame someone they could easily capture and not someone on a fucking spaceship lost through some sort of wormhole and in this goddamn mess?

 Once again, his thoughts drifted back to Gavin, being stranded on a planet for fourteen years. The poor guy probably didn't even know what loving someone else felt like.

  _Dammit_. He gave in and decided to explore his feelings for the other man a little more. Gavin was basically a stranger, he had only known him for a few days.. but in those few days he had found out that he was framed for murder and wanted back home, had a panic attack, cried himself to sleep for the first time since the night his dad died, and had been worried to death for Gavin’s life on more than one occasion.

   And yet, he had also discovered a planet, been swept up in the current of an invisible river, swam through a floating lake, fallen asleep with the moons above gleaming in a way he’d never forget, and most importantly, he had met Gavin. This ‘stranger’ had made all of his problems fade into the background with his wild adventures and crazy antics, he had brought Michael into a perfect moment when he thought nothing was ever going to be good again and made him smile stupidly for hours on end even though his inevitable doom was back on Earth, and he had managed to calm him down even though he was in mass hysteria.

 That’s when it hit him. It didn’t _matter_  that they just met. It was obvious that Gavin Free was the best thing that could have happened to him, and Michael couldn’t bear even the thought of losing him. He wanted to endure the stupid ideas and smell that scent forever. He had to tell him, he had to rush up into his room and kiss him, or something, set things straight before the others found out how to get back--

 And suddenly, it dawned on him.

The person who framed him could never get the money if they were on Earth and Michael was on the ship, so that didn’t seem plausible. But the plan did make perfect sense if the culprit were on the _Achievement_  itself.

He thought back to earlier that day: Gavin had been nervous all day, uneasy, even terrified. Like he knew something but couldn't tell anyone or something would happen..

   “Gavin,” he whispered. And the next thing he knew, he was out of the engine room and running as fast as he could towards Gavin's room.


	10. land

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Sorry it's been a week or two, I got distracted (that happens frequently and easily). But I'm back, with the fourth to last chapter! You get to find out who did the thing in this one too! Questions, comments, and concerns are welcome, and as always, hope you enjoy~!

 He was stopping for nothing, he had to get to his friend and help him, Gavin had no idea how to protect himself against others or what to do in this sort of situation! Michael’s mind raced with all of the cruel possibilities that could await the Brit. Who the hell could do that? They were all best friends, none of them would do that to him. He thought of the many nights staying up late drinking with Geoff and Jack, of attempting and failing to pilot the ship with Ray, of building mini robots out of scraps with Ryan- how could any of them ever do something like that to him?

 His mind whizzed through a million ideas as he attempted to find out who was behind all of this. If they were on the ship, then they would have to have had easy access to the EC in order to feed information to them. He would also have to be able to program a picture or video of Michael himself doing something similar to the shooting, as well as being able to make sure exactly what day’s news article they had seen. So, easy communication, abilities in programming and technology, and a really good liar.. that eliminated Ray and Jack immediately. So it was either Geoff or Ryan-

 “Hey, Michael, what’s the rush?” Geoff asked as Michael rounded the corner and the captain suddenly came into view. The man slowed a bit so that he could process being shocked before taking off again.

_It’s Ryan._

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 As soon as Gavin had read the note, the door shut behind him and suddenly everything had gone dark, which caused him to panic. His heart sped up, his breathing became too fast. In the dark, there was nothing to see but flashbacks and painful memories.

 “Don’t be so scared of the dark.” The voice, the same voice, appeared out of nowhere in the pitch black, and Gavin nearly jumped out of his skin. “Don’t be such a damsel in distress or your prince’s Spidey Senses will start tingling and he’ll have to come and rescue you. And then I’ll have one more body to get rid of, and that’s just extra work on my part.” The Brit immediately fell silent, not wanting to put his Michael in any danger.

 “Now, I don’t want it to seem like you’re being constricted or anything,” Ryan continued, “so feel free to walk around the room as you’d like.  Of course, I won’t make any promises about stepping on anything painful.” Gavin didn’t dare move an inch, and instead planted his feet firmly to the ground and tried not to show his worry (though he wasn’t quite sure what he was afraid of Ryan seeing in the pitch black).

 “Why- why are you doing this?” He gulped, his eyes frantically searching in the nothingness in an attempt to locate his captor. “Why are you killing me and framing Michael?”

“I’m doing it for pure shits and giggles. What do you think I’m doing it for? The money.” The way he said _money_ sent shivers down Gavin’s spine.

   "But- but-" the Brit spluttered, "I thought he was your friend! I thought this crew was like a big happy family!" He honestly couldn't wrap his mind around why someone who was so close could do something so terrible. 

  "Well then, if this is a family then I guess I'm the rebellious big brother," Ryan replied sarcastically. "You'd be surprised at the lengths that people will go for a couple of extra bucks. And let me tell ya, working in this shithole isn't exactly paying the bills. So, when I was approached with an... interesting proposal, of course I said yes. It pays well, it gets me out of here, and honestly it's a tiny bit fun." Gav grew more horrified with every word that came rolling off of the traitor's tongue. 

  "Just you wait, Michael will be here soon and then he's gonna-"

 "He's 'gonna' what? Yell at me? Call me stupid names? Let his temper get the best of him? It doesn't matter how you play it out, the next 24 hours or so will be spent  _my_ way. And what are you going to do about it? Nothing." He could basically hear the smirk despite the darkness. 

 However, as if on cue, the door was kicked open, and Michael's face appeared like an angel's from heaven. "Either you give this whole fucking thing up," he growled, "or I bash your head in with my bare hands." 


	11. among

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *casually begins writing the next chapter seconds after posting the first*

  Needless to say, Michael didn't expect to be knocked out and wake up tied to a chair. 

   "Oh, great, you're awake!" Ryan's gleeful voice reached his ears and Michael groggily snapped his head up. When his vision cleared, he realized he was in the cockpit with Ryan at the wheel. Immediately, familiar rage flowed through him as he realized what had happened. 

  "What the hell did you do with the others? What the hell did you do with Gavin?" He asked, fearing the worst. Ryan simply smirked and didn't even look away from the road (well, empty space). 

  "Don't worry about them, they're just taking a nap. And as for Gavin, he's right here!" The man motioned behind him, where another chair was placed with an unconscious British man bound to it. "Safe and sound, just a little bit concussed." 

  "What the hell, man. I thought we- I kind of assumed that we were, oh, I don't know,  _friends."_ Michael spat the word as if it was poison on his tongue. He shot another worried glance at Gavin before focusing his attention back on the lying bastard that was Ryan Haywood. "We did shit together, man, we were an unstoppable crew! We were the Hunters!" At this, Ryan sighed and rolled his eyes. 

  "I literally just had this conversation with Gavin. Blah, blah, rebellious brother, blah, blah, money, blah, blah, shithole. Basically, framing you and killing him will make me rich enough to buy an entirely new ship that's at least twelve times better than this one. And also, you can stop making puppy eyes at your boyfriend there, I was telling the honest truth; he's perfectly fine. I wanted you to wake up before I killed him. Speaking of which, it's about time, isn't it?" Michael watched with uncertainty as Ryan switched to autopilot, stood up, and made his way over to Gavin. 

   "I swear to God, if you even-" 

 "If I even  _what?_ " He asked, whistling tunelessly as he untied Gavin. "You're tied to a Goddamn chair. Now, kiss Gavvy Wavvy goodbye before he dies in his sleep." He hoisted the unconscious man up as if this was a normal, everyday thing for him. "Now, I'm torn between sending him off into empty space and beating him to death... nah, space is better." Once he had made this internal decision, he carried Gavin to the random normal-sized door they had that they almost never used, picked up three nearby portable stand-alone space helmets, putting one on himself, one on Gavin, and tossing the last to Michael, and then opened the door. 

   "He'll wake up alive, but he won't be like that for long," Ryan smirked, his voice more clear than ever with the com system through the helmets. "Limited oxygen supply. Now, come kiss your boyfriend goodbye." And at that moment, right before Michael thought he was going to lose the best thing that had ever happened to him, Gavin sprung alive and punched the douchebag in the gut. 


	12. the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINISHED! Oh my god, I did the thing I'm so proud of myself. I have a habit of sort of.. forgetting to write the rest of stories, but I did this one! Sorry, I had to sum up everything in this chapter and I felt like I would ruin it by adding another chapter, so I had this one be two words. I had a blast writing this, and I definitely will be doing more multichapter stories in the future! I love you guys for all of your kudos and support, and I hope you loved reading this story as much as I loved writing it. As always, questions, comments, and concerns are welcome, and I hope you enjoy~!

The next moments unfolded in slow motion. Gavin punched Ryan in the gut, catching him off guard, and then kneed him in the groin, causing him to double over. The Brit used this advantage to then push the man who had nearly prevented him from having his happily ever after out of the ship he apparently despised so much and into the open space outside. Normal time returned to him as he heaved the door shut, breathing heavily.

 "Man, that guy is damn heavy," he panted, but he had barely even finished the sentence before Michael's arms were around him in the greatest hug he had ever experienced. The shock of being alive and the anger at Ryan and the sadness of his almost-death all poured out in that one embrace, rendering words unnecessary. So, they simply stood there, not daring to let go, both men with their eyes shut as they realized how much they nearly lost.

 "I'm going to admit," Gavin said eventually, "I really want to kiss you right now." At this, they loosened their grip so to look at each other's faces, both with goofy smiles.

  "We're wearing space helmets, you fucking idiot," Michael grinned.

 "That doesn't make me want to not kiss you." And with that, Gavin leaned forward and puckered his lips like an idiot. Michael laughed but did the same, both leaning in until their helmets touched and they had their first kiss. Sort of.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Once they got their helmets off, they kissed again, this time for real. And again. Ang again. Eventually, however, they realized that the rest of the crew was still lying unconscious somewhere in the ship, so they decided to find them instead of going further. After ten minutes or so of running through halls yelling their friends' names, the boys found them in an old command room, sloppily strewn all over the floor like rag dolls.

  "Hey, Geoff," Gavin said softly, shaking the captain's shoulders lightly in an attempt to wake him up. However, his attempt was stopped short when his eardrum was nearly blown out by Michael.

 "WAKEY WAKEY EGGS AND BAKEY, MOTHERFUCKERS!" Michael's method was slightly more effective than Gavin's.

Once everyone was awake and at least partially filled in, they gradually started filling in the holes from before. It turns out that Ryan had known how to get back on track the whole damn time, and had set a course back to Earth while he was preparing to kill Gavin. Who he was working for was unknown, however, and yet to be found out. Which brought another question to mind.

 "Uhh, Gavin, you kind of killed Ryan, so how the hell will we prove that I was framed?"

  "Easy," Ray interjected, speaking for the first time since he had been woken up. "CCTV. Even if the bitch managed to delete the footage, I always kept second copies just in case I wanted to make a shitty friendship montage to embarrass you guys.”

  “Ray, that’s creepy as hell,” Geoff remarked, “but it may just have saved Michael, so I think it’s fine for now.”

 “See? Being a weird fuck pays off sometimes,” the pilot grinned and received four grins back. Michael looked at everyone, from his old friends around him to the man he had just met but had changed his life and smiled the biggest of all. It seemed like things finally, after months of mourning and days of worry, things just might turn out okay. Because as long as he had his family and his friends, things would be fine; but if Gavin was there beside him, holding his hand and grinning with that goofy, wild look in his eye and telling him some stupid joke to ease the tension, his life would be nothing short of perfect.

 “Hey, you donut,” Gavin said to Michael while the other men were talking excitedly amongst themselves. “I need to tell you something.”

 “Shoot.”

the Brit took a deep breath-- he had obviously thought long and hard about this-- and began to speak.

 “I was literally alone for fourteen years. That’s a damn long time, if you ask me. I had no idea where I was or how the hell I was supposed to survive, but I scraped by. I went fourteen years without seeing another human face; and the last one I had seen was the face of my dying dad. But looking back on it, I feel like those faceless years were given to me so I could prepare.. well, prepare to see yours. Because honestly, you’re the most important person I’ve ever met, and I know that I’m getting used to this whole ‘functioning in society and figuring out my emotions for other humans thing’, but there are two things I know for certain: that I feel at home at home on this ship, and that I’m absolutely head-over-heels in love with one Michael Jones.” He finished the speech off with a small, timid smile, waiting for a response. Michael just grinned, shook his head, and pulled Gavin into a gentle kiss.

 Yeah, things were going to turn out just fine.

 


End file.
